[HN Gopher] Scientists' report first X-ray of a single atom
___________________________________________________________________
Scientists' report first X-ray of a single atom
Author : wglb
Score : 81 points
Date : 2023-06-05 15:25 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (phys.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Isn't this just EPR w/ X-Ray photons?
|
| I say "just", but maybe EPR w/ X-Ray photons is really hard. I
| can't say this is my area of experimental expertise.
| jpmattia wrote:
| > _Isn 't this just EPR w/ X-Ray photons?_
|
| From a quick read: I don't think so. There's no magnetic field,
| and the collected electron can be from a pair (ie both spins in
| one orbital)
|
| I think it is better described as exotic STM: In normal STM,
| you put a bias on the tip relative to the material, and then
| put the tip close enough to the material so that a valence (or
| free) electron tunnels across the vacuum.
|
| In this work, it appears they put the tip close to the atom and
| then whack one of the inner electrons with an x-ray photon,
| which is then collected by the tip. [I don't understand how
| they engineer the fields so that the scattered electron is
| collected by the tip, but I'm assuming the atom to be measured
| is somehow connected electrically to create a bias between the
| sample and tip. If anyone has access to the paper, don't keep
| it a secret.]
|
| Corrections welcome, I'm curious myself how this works.
| el_oni wrote:
| My quick skim looks like its more like XPS or XAFS or XANES.
| Mixed with AFM
| programmertote wrote:
| > A team of scientists from Ohio University, Argonne National
| Laboratory, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and others, led
| by Ohio University Professor of Physics, and Argonne National
| Laboratory scientist, Saw Wai Hla, have taken the world's first
| X-ray SIGNAL (or SIGNATURE) of just one atom.
|
| Tangential, but the lead scientist's name, Saw Wai Hla, sounds
| like he is from Myanmar (Burma). As a citizen of Myanmar, I'm
| proud that one of my fellow country people contributed to
| science.
| EddieEngineers wrote:
| Myanmar also has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Z._Win and
| the late https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Paw :)
| npsomaratna wrote:
| Are you still located in Myanmar? I traveled there a few years
| ago--beautiful country and friendly people.
| PretzelPirate wrote:
| Saw Wai Hla did get his masters at Yangon University so there's
| a good chance he's from Myanmar.
| deepspace wrote:
| As a layman, I thought that this kind of resolution had been
| achieved with STMs decades ago. I wish the article explained the
| advantages of using X-rays.
| jpmattia wrote:
| The resolution is not the innovation here. Where "conventional"
| STM collects valence or free electrons, this work is probing
| the electron structure, using Xray photons to kick one out from
| the inner orbitals.
| codethief wrote:
| I don't think it's got that much to do with classic X-ray imaging
| anymore. It sounds much more like a scanning (electron/tunneling)
| microscope.
| dash2 wrote:
| "Scientists".
| ginnungagap wrote:
| Why would they not be?
| bilekas wrote:
| dash is referring to the grammar.
|
| I'm also guessing that's also what all the downvoters missed
| too.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Ironically it would be just fine with a dash after report
| Retric wrote:
| I got his point and still downvoted for derailing the
| thread.
| tabtab wrote:
| Let's x-ray that apostrophe, it may be hiding something.
| [deleted]
| bilekas wrote:
| I'm glad someone else noticed it. It's really annoying to see
| the ' misused like that.
|
| The correct use for some context : "The scientists' report was
| really interesting"
| tabtab wrote:
| Where's GrammarGPT when you need?
| [deleted]
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-06-06 23:01 UTC)